Housing benefit changes: Who will be affected?

Ministers argue the new measures, amounting to £2.4bn in savings, are necessary, not only to tackle the rising cost of benefits and the budget deficit, but also to create a fairer system for taxpayers and to provide greater incentives for people to work.

They say expenditure on housing benefit in cash terms has increased significantly from £11.2bn in 1997/1998 to £20bn in 2009/10, and without reform they predict it will reach £24.7bn by 2014/15. Read More: